Music Night
by McFucktruck
Summary: It's music night Zuko's joining for once. Obviously, things go south pretty soon.


**Music Night**

Prince Zuko was dragged mildly up on deck by an infuriatingly persistent uncle who had decided to put an end to his daily brooding. Apparently it was music night again, and despite his protests Zuko found himself forced into yet another social situation, that he had absolutely not wished for. His uncle had pestered him for a good twenty minutes before he finally gave in. Didn't mean he had to enjoy it though.

When the men on deck saw them approaching a few jabs were thrown around. _Look who got out of his room. Didn't know he could be social. Wonder when he'll stalk off… wanna bet? Oh man, why is he here? Does he have to ruin music night, too? _

They both ignored the whisperings as the cook politely greeted them.

"Hello sirs. We were just about to begin, please sit down."

Iroh nodded pleasantly and sat down. Zuko scowled and plopped down beside him, promptly looking away and appearing as if he'd rather be elsewhere, which he was. He decided then and there that he would not participate no matter how much his uncle would pester him to play.

He glanced at the different instruments that had been bought up on deck. There was a variety of string instruments and flutes, a tsungi horn, and one battered hand drum. A poor choice of instruments, really, he thought to himself as he mentally criticized the condition of the instruments. The ones back at the palace had never been mistreated in this way.

"Are you sure you don't want to play with us, Prince Zuko?" his uncle asked as he picked up the tsungi horn. "You are quite skilled after all. I'm sure we wouldn't mind if you're a bit out of practice."

"I don't want to play." Answered Zuko shortly. His face looked even grimmer as he added "I have better things to do with my time anyway."

"Since you're already sitting here you might as well participate." Chided Iroh gently.

"Which part of "I don't want to play" is it that you don't understand!?"

"It was just a suggestion, nephew."

Lieutenant Jee cleared his throat and interrupted the argument. "No one's going to force you to play, but you may join us at any time, sir."

Zuko nodded in his direction but said nothing. Iroh sighed sadly and muttered under his breath about what a pity it was that he didn't want to play.

Eventually the group started playing the easy tune of "the Girls from Ba Sing Se", which could have been a nice song. If the instruments had been tuned correctly. As it was the old pipa had obviously not had the careful tuning it should have had. It was not very far off key, but it was noticeable. Zuko bravely tried to ignore it, but the more he focused on not focusing on it, the more he noticed the irritating, off-key tunes.

A few seconds later he suddenly realized that the other string instruments were off too. It seemed as if each string was somehow altered just to annoy him. Did his uncle really drag him up on deck just to have him sit through this miserable performance? The situation was suddenly absolutely unbearable.

"Alright, that's it. Stop!" he said furiously. The music faltered as the crew glared at him. Not even half a song and they were already being bothered by the testy teen.

"What's the meaning of this?" he asked and stared down the irritated crew members. "Do you purposely go out of your way to annoy me, or is this a new form of torture you've invented, uncle? Did you put them up to this?!"

"Now, now, Zuko. Why would you say such a thing? And what exactly is it that you're accusing me of?"

"You know what, uncle."

"I honestly don't." he said a bit stumped. How had a calm music night gone sour in just a few minutes? He knew of Zuko's reluctance to both music and vaguely social situations, but to blow up like this…

"Every. Single. One. All the string instruments are out of tune. Did you really think I wouldn't notice? Or did you count on it?" Zuko put his head in his hands and breathed deeply in an attempt to calm himself. What if his uncle had set him up for failure? _Just like his father_. No, he couldn't think like that. But what if he had. Zuko would have had to either ignore the off key music or leave. Or he could point out the flaws, and try to remedy it himself. Every one of the options meant going back on his word somehow, unless he managed to sit through the evening and listen to the horrible music.

"It's not so bad, Prince Zuko. You are well aware that we are not like the musicians from the palace. You're being very unfair to your hard working crew. Not everyone has your ear for music, which you should be aware of."

"Tuned instruments is not asking too much, uncle. It's a requirement."

"But Prince Zuko-"

"Sergeant Lee!" Zuko turned his attention to the Sergeant who had been playing the pipa. "When was the last time you tuned that thing?"

Sergeant Lee scratched the back of his neck as he thought about it. "That would be about a week ago, sir."

"Do you know how to tune it properly?"

"I think it's good enough for me, sir."

"That's not what I asked, was it?"

"N-no sir."

"Well?"

"My brother tried to teach me when I was a teen. I never got a hang of it."

Zuko mulled this over for a moment. The suspense hung think in the air as they all awaited his next move. He let out a sigh as though he had given up something precious.

"Give it here, then." He said dejectedly and held out his hand. Sergeant Lee hesitated for a moment before he handed the pipa to the Prince.

Zuko plucked at the first string a few times before he twisted slightly at the button at the end of the string. He did this for the rest of the strings in record time before he handed it back. "There you go." He said, not unkindly. "Try it."

Sergeant Lee played the tunes to "the Girls from Ba Sing Se" again and marveled at the difference those little tweaks had done to the sound of it. General Iroh was positively beaming.

"Thank you, sir!" he said sincerely.

Zuko nodded to him and raised his lone eyebrow as he glanced over the rest of the crew.

"Anyone else who is incapable of tuning their own instrument?" he asked airily.

Somehow he ended up tuning all the string instruments, while the crew chatted quietly. They were completely thrown off track by the quiet yet concentrated Prince. His eyes squinted slightly and he listened with all his focus on the lone tunes he produced as he tried to find the right ones. He seemed to relax slightly after a couple of instruments. Prince Zuko blinked as he finished the last one, and handed it to Lieutenant Jee.

Zuko went back to his seat and refused to look at his uncle. The music picked up again and Zuko longed to join, but he knew he would not give in, no matter how tempting it was. Booze was passed around and even Zuko had a couple of mouthfuls of the strong liquor. He ignored the pointed looks his uncle gave him. If he had to sit there he should at least be allowed something to drink.

Pleasantly buzzed he sat there, feeling tense and awkward and unable to either leave or join. He knew that the crew didn't want him there, and they knew he didn't want to be there, yet they all just had to deal with it.

"Are you sure you don't want to play?" his uncle asked loftily as there was a small break in between the songs. The crew were arguing about what to play next. An argument that was getting increasingly loud.

"What I want doesn't matter." Muttered Zuko to his uncle.

"Of course it matters. I'm sure everyone would feel more at ease if they actually knew you in person instead of strictly as their commander."

"But I don't even play anymore."

"Ah, but you know how to play. I remember when you were little, you played every day…"

"Well I don't, ok! I haven't played for _years_."

"Why not?" asked Iroh curiously. He never quite understood his nephews averseness to pleasantries, whether it was food, music, women or company.

"That's none of-"

Zuko was interrupted by Sato, who drunkenly made his way to the Royals.

"Sir!" he said loudly. "They can't make up their minds, sir."

"And what do you want me to do about it?"

"Well, we… I mean… _I_ thought that perhaps maybe you would like to join us, and then they'd get along, because y'know, you're a prince and all and maybe they'd shut their stupid mouths about which song to play and then we could _get on with it!_" He directed the last part to the arguing musicians, who in turn changed their attention to the confrontation, finding that the Prince was not screaming off his face just yet. In fact he looked like he was considering the proposition.

"I will join you on one condition." He answered tentatively. "No word will get off this ship back to the capitol. Especially not to my father."

"Sure thing, sir." Said Sato reassuringly and patted Zuko on his back. "It's not like we have any contact with his Fire Lordliness anyways."

"Promise me." Demanded Zuko shrilly as he crossed his arms and glared as menacingly as he could. "This is a very serious matter. If you want me to play you will not let word get out."

"Where's the harm in playing some music? Surely your father wouldn't mind that we're having a relaxing evening once in a while? He's not completely irrational…" countered Iroh inquiringly with a rather peeved look on his face. Suddenly it became too much and Zuko exploded with rage and shouted loudly in his uncle's face.

"Because the last time I played music after mother disappeared he backhanded me and told me that if I spent more time working on my fire bending then maybe I'd be half as good as Azula. Because the next time I spoke out of turn _he burned my face off_. If he has any knowledge of me defying him again he will not hesitate to kill me, I'm sure of it!"

The oppressive silence that reigned was too much for the upset teenager. He had never been stared at with so much pity in his entire life. He snatched up a half filled alcoholic water skin and huffed "Whatever, it's not worth it. It was a dumb idea anyway." As he turned around and left the company.

No one followed him as he made his way to the railing on the back of the ship where he sat down and put his arms around his knees and stared blankly at the sea and the bright starry night. His uncle was probably busy placating the crew after the bomb he'd dropped on them.

As he raised the water skin to his mouth and took a long drink he noticed that he was shaking slightly. He didn't know why the thoughts of his father bothered him so much. It wasn't as if it was news that he cared little for Zuko, but putting it so bluntly in front of his crew made him see it in a different light.

_Maybe Azula wasn't lying that night_, he thought. Maybe his father had really been on his way to kill him. Why else had he been trying so hard to convince himself that Azula was actually lying? No, he figured. She wasn't lying. Not when the truth was so much worse.

He suddenly found it hard to breathe. No matter how much he tried he just couldn't breathe deeply. His father had tried to kill him. His father had tried to kill him. _His father had tried to kill him._ And his mother had stopped him.

Zuko didn't notice when the tear began to fall from his eyes, nor did he notice the area around his eyes become blotchy and irritated from the salty tears, nor did he notice the snot running from his nose as he cried. He was completely focused on trying to breathe. _Breathe_, he thought. _Fire bending comes from the breath. Calm yourself_.

After what seemed like a lifetime he managed to get himself under control. He slowly uncurled from his cramped sitting position and wiped the excess wetness from his face. Zuko decided that he'd rather stay in his room than sit on deck outside, and stumbled down to his cabin.

When he got there he noticed a very nervous and concerned Sergeant Lee standing outside his door.

"You're in the way, Sergeant." He said rudely as he would much prefer the solitude of his room to the presence of the crew member. "I suggest you move before I do it for you."

"Sir." He said timidly as he shifted on his feet, but moved out of the way. "I'm sorry we pressured you into playing. We didn't know of your… circumstances."

"I don't want your pity, Sergeant. As you said, you didn't know. What I need is for you to do your job and stay out of my way, like you've done before. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Prince Zuko. I just thought I'd let you know that the crew, all of us, have promised not to relay anything musical from this ship, should you ever want to join us in the future."

Sergeant Lee looked as I he expected Zuko to punch him in the face for his audacity, while Zuko felt his eyes water slightly against his will.

"Some other time then." He answered with a thick voice and shut his door, feeling completely drained. Sergeant Lee started to walk down the corridor as the door opened again.

"Sergeant." Prince Zuko said lightly. "Thank you."

A small smile rested at the corner of Sergeant Lee's lips as he nodded and replied "No matter, Prince Zuko."


End file.
